The Journey Home: Things I Have Learned

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Things I Have Learned

I do not believe there is any "reason" to experience a miscarriage. But I know that there are things we can (and should) learn from everything in life.

I know I will grieve for my son until the day I join him in Heaven.

I know God gave me an incredible gift when He blessed me with my dream of him.

I know my friends love me more than I deserve.

And I know we would not be this close to finding our daughter if I was eight months pregnant right now. I know we would still find her one day, but that day would not be today. I don't know why this is God's plan for us, but I do know that it is. And I rejoice in the knowledge that He is blessing us each step of the way and He is on this journey with us as we travel it. I am convicted that right now is His time for us to bring our daughter home and I am humbled that He has called us to experience the incredible gift of adoption. We are His adopted children and He loves us not "as His own," but because we are His own. What an amazing God we serve!

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Our Journey Timeline

July 3- Prayerfully decided to delay adoption until sometime after the twins are born
July 2- Had sonogram found out we are having twins
June 27- Received FBI clearance; Fedexed to Austin for authentication
June 17- Completed FBI fingerprints; FedExed them to FBI headquarters
June 13- Received some new requirements
June 8- Completed dossier sent to Austin for authentication; should be back in two weeks. Found out we are pregnant
June 7- Received our USCIS approval to adopt a foreign born orphan!
May 1-USCIS fingerprinting complete!!!
April 23- Received referral for fingerprinting appointment from USCIS! Have to redo some of dossier per our agency
April 22- Mailed completed dossier off to AA for approval for authentication in Austin; still waiting on USCIS for fingerprinting appointment for immigration approval
April 11- Mailed a copy of the home study report to USCIS
April 10- Home study report ready!
April 5- Received our State Police Clearance checks; we passed!!!
April 1- Home study interviews completed!!!
March 31- Amber completed doctor exam for the dossier
March 29- Began blog
March 28- Amber completed her fingerprinting for the criminal background check
March 24- Tony completed his fingerprinting for the criminal background check
March 19- Went to Denton and collected four certified copies of our marriage license for the dossier
March 17- Re-mailed our I 600 a form to Dallas Field Office; this time with correct fee amount!
March 15- Received first lesson from the government: Always triple check anything you send them because they will send it back if it's wrong
March 14- Continued working on the dossier; made doctor appointments and many, many phone calls regarding requirements
March 13- Received our dossier list from Ally; worked on it for eight hours, stayed up until 2 am
March 10- Mailed our I 600a form to the USCIS Dallas Field office; turned in completed paperwork for the home study to Little Miracles
March 7- Received first email from Ally, our case worker with Adoption Ark
March 4- Visited our social worker, Deborah, and collected all the paperwork to begin our homestudy
March 3- Mailed our application and contract to Adoption Ark in Illinois!
March 1- Realized our baby girl is in Kyrgyzstan; began seriously researching the agencies registered to facilitate adoptions there
February 27- Decided we couldn't spend four weeks in Khazsikstan, but did decide to use Little Miracles as our home study agency. Began researching Kyrgyzstan in depth
February 26- Talked with Little Miracles here in Amarillo; found out about Khazsikstan
February 25- Called several agencies to talk with their staff and research more countries; found out about Kyrgyzstan
February 24- Looked at different countries and agencies
February 23- AWAA seminar; realized she was not in China
February 10- Signed up for AWAA seminar
February 9- Started researching agencies and countries
February 5, 2008- Realized God's time for us to adopt was right now
February 2007- Began prayerfully considering adoption

Adoption Jargon

Home Study- each state has its own requirements for completing a home study; most, if not all, require a series of interviews with a social worker licensed in your state, as well as, an overview of the actual home where the child will live. There are doctor letters and/or appointments where many blood tests are run. Police background clearance checks and some require a driving record check. Texas' requirements are relatively simple and as a result we have been able to completed it very quickly. Friends of mine in other states have been required to do much, much more. One had to have an actual fire marshall come to her house and complete an inspection. She also had to have an environmental officer collect 51 vials of water among other things to check for health regulations. We are very blessed to live in Texas for many reasons.

I 600a- This is the form we have to file with the USCIS (immigration dept.) in order to adopt a foreign born orphan. This is one of the last things we need to have in order to send our dossier to Washington for translation.

Dossier- This is what all of our paperwork is called when it is completed. There are many documents that make up the dossier, the petition to adopt, the home study, police clearances, doctor letters, marriage licenses, birth certificates, and on and on. And EVERYTHING has to be notarized. When we have this all together we will send it to the agency for approval, then to the Sec. of State in Austin for authentication, and then to Washington for translation. After that, it is off to Kyrgyzstan!

The Journey Home

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Things I Have Learned

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